In the decade following WWII our country enjoyed a time of peace and prosperity. However this prosperity did not extend to all. Outraged by this gap in wealth, artists and writers of the beat movement openly criticized American society claiming that Americans valued conformity over independence and financial gain over spiritual and social advancement.
This combined with the turmoil of the civil rights movement with racism and the nuclear arms race with fear caused the youth of this nation to be uneasy about the future and question the wisdom of their parents and political leaders. Because of the baby boom after WW11 58% of the U.S population was 34 or younger. The economic boom in the 1950s also meant that more parents could afford to send their kids to college. By 1966 the number of students enrolled in a four-year college rose by 2 million! Many of these college students grew concerned about the way America was being ran, they saw that the wealthy elite controlled politics and that wealth itself was unfairly divided. Many organization driven by college students, such as the SDS were formed to protest a plethora of things. This set the ground for the Free Speech Movement.
This combined with the turmoil of the civil rights movement with racism and the nuclear arms race with fear caused the youth of this nation to be uneasy about the future and question the wisdom of their parents and political leaders. Because of the baby boom after WW11 58% of the U.S population was 34 or younger.